Mahabharata – 215
by
Sankar Mukherjee
&
Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                         

Aadivamsaavatarana Parva
Dronacharya V


Drona met Bhisma and narrated to him how he was dogged after by poverty. Finally he resolved to visit  his boyhood friend Drupada for an honorable  livelihood. Drupada was Drona’s boyhood friend and he had become the monarch of Panchala. Drona  told Bhisma ---
Thus resolved, Oh best of the men! I went, for the sake of former friendship, to Drupada. Drupada had already become a king. So I felt blessed. Joyfully I went to my dear friend, remembering my former friendship with him and also his former assurance. He told me that he
would share his kingdom and wealth with me once he became the king. Approaching Drupada, I said --Oh best among the men! know me as your friend!--Saying this, I approached him confidently as a friend should and I was about to embrace him. But Drupada, laughing in
disrespect threw me off as if I were a vulgar fellow.
Drupada in response told me --- Oh Brahmana! your intelligence is scarcely of a high order. Therefore you are not aware of the culture of the society. You called me a friend. Listen. Time weakens everything in its course, and destroys friendship also. In the past we were studying together and we were friends. But times have changed. One non brahmin cannot be a friend of a brahmin. One who is not a chariot-warrior can never be a friend to one who is a chariot-warrior.
There may be friendship between persons equally placed in life. In this world, friendship never continues for ever in any heart. Time erodes it off and anger destroys it too. We had friendship for some reason during our childhood days. But do not stick, therefore, to that notion .Our friendship of yore is worn off . The friendship I had with you, was for a particular purpose. Truly friendship can never be maintained between a poor man and a rich man, between an educated man and an uneducated man. Between a hero and a coward. Why do you desire the continuation of our former friendship? Oh you foolish one! A poor and  unfortunate one can not be a friend of a mighty king. He who is not a king cannot be a friend of a king. I do not remember ever having promised you regarding my kingdom .Presently  what do you ask
for on the ground of our earlier friendship? But, Oh Brahmana, I can now give you the food and shelter for one night. Thus told by him, I left the place quickly with my wife, vowing to do
that which I will certainly do soon . Thus insulted by Drupada, Oh Bhishma!, I have been filled with anger, I have come to the Kurus, desirous of obtaining intelligent and obedient pupils. I have come to Hastinapura to follow your wishes. Oh ! Tell me what I am to do for
you?.
Friendship is the theme of Drona – Drupada episode here. The story is very realistic. Children are not aware of social status commonly. Rich and poor children could play together without being aware of each others social status unless we elders teach them the difference. Be
that as it may life is large. In course of time while one of them becomes a king another of them could beg from house to house. Even in ancient India brahmins were not always privileged. Drona the son of a brahmin and a true brahmin in his way of life could not make both ends
meet. So he went to his boyhood friend Drupada who had been a king in the mean time. And Drupada frankly told Drona that friendship takes place between equals. There can not be any friend ship between a prince and a pauper. In the past might be they were friends but
vicissitudes of fortune have separated them from one another. They are now far from each other. Hence the lost friendship between them could not be revived. In fact Drupada was very candid and true in his speech. When the powerful raise some one from lowly status to the
level of a friend the latter often is apt to betray is benefactor. Brutus who was raised in status by Julius Caesar betrayed Caesar and stabbed him. The dying statement of Caesar was ---- et tu brute.That rings in our heart.

Thus  Drupada seems to have been right. But at the same time the poet of the Mahabharata has described the grief's of Drona with great power and force. We humans are blessed with human values like friendship, love, and motherly affection and so on. The Mahabharata is a curious poem that appreciates the beauties of such human values. In the same breath the Mahabharata fingers at their hollowness .In the contingent world nothing is permanent. No value is perennial. Friends of today might be sworn enemies to each other tomorrow. And the sorrow mickle  that raged in the heart of Drona might turned him into a sworn enemy of Drupada. Many freedom fighters such as Count Cavour, Netaji  Sbhas Chandra Bose ,Ho Chi Minh went abroad to ask for help from foreign powers to fight the enemy at home.
And Drona being refused by Drupada has come to Hastinapura with a design which is not yet disclosed. Surely those who pin their faith on social hierarchy and the difference between the rich and the poor areenemies of man.
Here  it should be noted that princes in earlier days had to live in the ashrama for education, There they  were taught to lead a very ordinary life likening that of the spade and the scythe. Markandaya Purana tells us this how kings and princes are declassed. consequently
when they wield scepter and crown they have empathy for the weak and the downtrodden. But in the case of Drupada this has not come true despite the fact that he was sent to an ashrama for education in childhood.